(this slightly depressive poem is the result of the mixture of a melancholic movie with jetlag and injuries. Once you realize that time will run out, you tend to get more motivated to successfully accomplish your goals, even if there is no possibility of success, because once death collects you, you can never come back to finish what you never started or stopped working on)

A post has been circulating around social media sites which claims that watching horror movies can burns calories. So the question is, how does these movies burn calories and can it possibly count toward your overall calorie-burning goal?

The answer might surprise you. Studies show that watching a ninety minute horror movie can burn up to one hundred and thirteen calories (telegraph.com). So by watching one horror movie, a person can cancel out the calories in a Sobe Noodle Bowl or dink eight ounces of Apple Juice. If eating snacks, one movie could cancel out ten chips or one ounce of popcorn. In terms of exercise, a horror movie can replace ten minutes of kickboxing, running a mile for ten minutes, or walking the mile in thirty minutes. (web4health).

Surprisingly, horror movies can cause viewers to burn more calories than other horror movies. Some movies can almost burn two hundred calories per ninety minutes while others may only burn one hundred. So why is there such a difference and what movies cause the best calorie burns?

The answer actually lies on the viewer’s fear itself. Fear causes adrenaline, a hormone that causes the heart rate to increase and cause carbohydrate metabolism to rise (Hormones.org). So what is Adrenaline and how does it help burn calories?

Adrenaline sends out a strong emotional response to the body over certain events that happens during the day. There are many different emotions, however, the focus today will just be on fear.

So the hormone triggers the emotion of fear which helps jumps the body into getting ready to go into the flight-or-fight instinct. The body needs tons of energy to either escape the situation or fight. This causes the heart rate to increase, metabolism to increase, and hypersensitive hearing, smell, and sight. Thus the body is working so hard to ensure safety that it drives everything into overdrive, thus helping burn calories.

So what movies does Adrenaline effect more? It has also been found that movies rattled in jump scares burn the highest amount of calories because the viewers are always tense waiting for the next scare to pop out leaving them constantly in a state of fear. Basically, the adrenaline is working tenfold to warn the body that there is danger nearby and to be on the lookout.

However, since viewers have different levels of fears, it really depends on the individual. In fact, some of the top calorie burning movies are not one with tons of jump scares. It’s The Shining which burns one hundred and eighty-four calories. Jaws comes in second with one hundred and sixty-one. Exorcist comes in third with one hundred and fifty-eight calories burned (telegraph).

So there’s probably a lot of people wondering why they haven’t lost any weight when they are avid horror lovers. The answer lies upon eating habits, exercise habits, metabolism levels, sleep habits, and if the horror movies actually scares them.

To lose a pound, a person has to burn three thousand and five hundred calories. Just counting the movies (no food) it will take thirty movies to burn off a pound. If a person eats the average two thousand calories a day diet and wants to lose a pound a week (which needs a five hundred calorie deficit per day by exercising, food decrease, etc) a person will need to watch thirty horror movies to lose a pound a week. This is not even taking into effect metabolism levels which can affect how easy or hard it is to lose weight.

Another issue is that usually there is food involved while watching movies. Pizza, soda, chips, popcorn, and other snacks can cancel out any calorie burning that the movie could give. So its best to leave the snacks and drinks alone to get the most benefits from watching movies.
Losing weight by sitting on the couch and watching movies sounds lovely but sadly, it’s not going to make a difference other than allowing you to eat that delicious snack in front of you. Unless you can watch thirty horror movies a week and stick to a strict diet.

In conclusion, yes, horror movies burns calories but it is not enough to effectively lose weight. However, next time you find yourself afraid while watching a horror movie, just remember, you are helping yourself by burning calories. So watch on and do not forget the popcorn.

When my wife saw a wasp in the house looking outside, I killed it. Now I stand in awe staring at an army of wasps constantly trying to break through the glass to get revenge, all you hear is buzzing and thuds as wasps sacrifice themselves as they slam against the window.

This is possibly the most terrifying thing in the world. Black cockroaches fly, do you understand, they have wings and they can fly anywhere including on your face.

I always been fascinated by bugs and could only imagine how giant we must look to these annoying little beasts. But yesterday I thought I heard them whispering to each other about how easy it would be for them to take out all humans and sadly I believe them.

We as humans are afraid of bugs yet do you ever wonder what happened in the past to cause our inherent fear? If rodents, mammals, and birds were larger, how big must the ancient cockroaches be?

I decided to start making themes for these stories, so today’s theme is ghosts:

I used to believe in spirits when I was a child but as I grew up, I started to realize that they were childhood fantasies. Tonight, at sixty years old, I had a reality check when my wife crawled out of her tombstone.

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2. We danced by the shores of the sea on warm summer nights, full of love and freedom. I threw her body from the pier and watched as the sharks cover my crime, I fell to my knees, sobbing, because I knew that tomorrow she would be at the shore again

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3. I look at the moon and count to ten as I hear them getting closer and closer. when the noises stop, I open my eyes, just to see an army of the undead, slowly circling me.

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4. The clicking of the clock forever reminds me that time could never stand still. My clock had stopped running twenty years ago and because of that, I don’t know how long I have been dead for.

(This is a short poem I did after reading about the Anneliese Michel case. she was murdered by the priest during the exorcism by forced starvation and dehydration. There is an audio clip video that has her speaking in tongues and made many believe this is real. However, her strong religious views crossed with her interest in boys and many believe it was a mental disorder brought on by her guilt of having natural urges. She was in Catholic school in Germany and so it makes sense that she would know pig Latin and other old languages. So rather she was really possessed or had a mental disorder, she sadly died in her early twenties.)

1.Opening a bag of chips and sitting down to watch my favorite horror movie sounded really nice after a long day at work. What I didn’t know as I dipped my hand into the bag was that it was full with hundreds squirmy midgets.

2. For the last three days my cat has been looking at the ceiling above my bed, growling, I make a point to never look up. Tonight laying in bed, my cat starts doing the same thing and I found the courage to look up only to see two bloodshot eyes staring down at me.

3. I visited a cemetery today to pay my respects for the dead. The dead only saw me as they next meal.
4. On a camping trip, I fell and sliced my leg open on a rock. Two months later, I was putting lotion on my legs when I noticed that there was something wiggling under my skin.

This is a poem about my friend who keeps talking about wanting to kill herself and my fears that one day she will get her wish and leave behind not only me, her friend, but her family, her boyfriend, and others who love her. Its pretty dark but I hope you enjoy:

What makes a productive writing session? That is the question to ask. Giveb the opportunity to sit down and finish editing my first novel and write my second novel, I had dreams of writing during the day. I thought it would be perfect and everything will go according to plan.

The first week, I was met with disappointment. Not only did I lack motivation but I found myself making every excuse not to right. Now, I did just end a very stressful job that had caused me a lot of emotional and physical exhaustion, and because of that found myself relaxing and sleeping a lot for my body can repair itself.

I since had found a groove of sorts. I realized that the time that everything is perfect in both myself and the environment to write is during the nights from eight at night to one in the morning. During that time, the words just fly off my fingertips and excitement rushes through my body as I picture the scenes play off in my mind like a movie.

However, it wasn’t until I started to play the Ouiji Board that everything just all came together. I don’t play often, but I find if I play once a week, i stay motivated to write every day and since playing, has already made huge improvement in both the quality and quantity of my workload. I think it is due to my own superstitions with the board that just sparks nervousness which is the emotion I need to be fully motivated.

To stay motivated, I take breaks to drink water, exercise, and to eat. I also make sure to watch something light before and after I start writing because it gives me a break from the horror that I am writing. It clears the head of any self-doubt as well.

So what makes a good productive writing session? I think anytime is good. Even if there’s struggling going on, its part of the process and overcoming struggles will lead to becoming a better author. As long there is time dedicated to writing and you use it to write, its a productive writing session. Its when you know when you need to stop or take a break and do so. Its when you realize tricks that you need to stay motivated and taking those steps to complete it.